


Red Wires

by DragonBandit



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Betty Crocker took over the world, Dystopia, Gen, crockertier!Jane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-04
Updated: 2013-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/784873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonBandit/pseuds/DragonBandit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You knew this would happen. Knew but didn't believe. She stands infront of you now, eyes dead and glowing red. Little more than a corpse.</p><p>If you don't kill her she will kill you.</p><p>You knew this was going to happen.</p><p> <br/>In a dystopian future Crockercorp has taken over the Earth. And now they have taken over Jane Crocker's brain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Wires

She walks without emotion, face blank as she steps through the blood towards you. In her hands is a weapon you recognise as her great-grandmothers, and you can feel your hands shake harder the closer she gets to you. She glances down at the wavering sword-tip but her face doesn't quirk with any sort of emotion, merely stays a painted mask.

Her skin is white, not the dark tan you remember, and running through it are the red wires that betray the unnaturalness of the situation. From her clothes drips red blood: her own and other's and it makes you sick to watch it hit the ground to join the new river covering the concrete road.

 You had nightmares about this. In the dark where no one else could see the shudders running through your body and the only lights were from everyone's computers. The soft pink glow from Roxy's; the multicoloured flashes from Jake's; and the red, constant light from Jane's. The same red that you grew up fearing, the red that branded everything evil in your world. The red of Crocker-tech; the colour of blood. It coated your dreams in graceful liquid arcs and stark logos. And in the middle of it stood Jane, fully realized as the heir of the corporation that killed your bro.

 She steps forwards, until the only distance between you is the length of your sword. Her eyes, hidden under her hood, are close enough for you to see the circuitry running through them against the dull red of her iris. A hand reaches towards you and you jerk backwards in a flinch before you jab your sword at her chest, ending in a fighting stance.

 Her eyes close briefly, as if hurt. You try to ignore it, instead focusing on the way the circuitry forms into tiny words under her eyes and lips: Obey, Submit, Consume. Words you saw on the billboards in dead cities; words you heard her scream when she couldn't fight back any longer.

 She killed Jake first, in a fit that lasted barely a second. One minute she was fine, the next she was screaming and Jake was on the ground before her; bleeding from three stabs set in the middle of his chest. In her hands was her fork/spoon thing, covered in blood that ran down the metal and onto her hands. She had looked up at you with blue, blue eyes that were bleeding purple and then red.

 “Run,” she had gasped, and then she started to scream.

 You hadn't even looked back. Just had grabbed Roxy, your sword and Lil' Hal and fucking obeyed. Leaving her behind to be consumed by the thing you were meant to destroy together.

 The next time you saw her she was little more than a corpse. Her clothes were bloody and when Roxy tried to catch her eye there was nothing in them but death. All of you had killed before; a side affect of living in these times but through all of it Jane had managed to stay whole. To smile and cry and be human. There was nothing left of that girl now.

 Roxy hadn't understood that she was gone. You had tried to stop her, begged her to not come out of your shelter. Begged her to not throw her life away. It hadn't worked. Roxy had smiled at you and blew a kiss.

 “Be right back,” She had said “Gotta go rescue my bestie.”

 She had stepped towards The-Thing-That-Was-Not-Jane, all the time smiling. For a moment everything was ok. The thing paused and made an almost smile, just like Jane did when she was confused about something. It had looked at Roxy, who was slowly, so agonizingly slowly, lifting her arms towards it's face. Reaching for the tiara top balanced on its head. For a moment you thought everything was going to be ok but it was no use. Faster than your eyes could follow Roxy was just another body on the ground.

 The-Thing-That-Was-Once-Jane didn't even blink. Roxy's bones went crunch as it stepped over her.

 You knew this was coming, knew but didn't believe. It had been so strange, living with the heir of the corporation who had killed your brother, your sister's mother and ruined the entire world. Jane was nothing like what you expected: Where there should have been a cold heiress who you could hate- could kill without remorse, there was just... Jane. Just a girl who was as frightened as you were in this cold dark place you had to call home.

 So you had ignored the warning signs. The way when Jane was angry her eyes would flash red, or the way her main computer was bugged with tech that not even you could understand. The way when she was viewed in the right light wires ran down her cheeks just under the skin. Or how sometimes her body would seize up in fits. You ignored it all. Like a goddamn fool you ignored the fact she was dangerous because she was your friend and you didn't want to be the one to kill her.

 You're paying for that now. Your heart broken into quarters, half of it dead and the other just as good as. You don't have the option to ignore her now.

 She keeps moving towards you. Slowly, inexorably and you can't fucking stop her. Part of you wants her to kill you; to send you to wherever Roxy, Jake and your bro are hanging. Water falls down your face: Tears. You can't remember the last time you cried. It seems like so long ago that you were stretched around a campfire. An eternity and last week ago.

 You move away from the wall. Towards her. In response she raises the trident, fork points centring on your chest.

“I'm sorry Jane.” you say and charge forwards, stabbing her stomach. Of course, to do this you had to run into the fork end of her weapon, forcing her arms backwards as the hilt buried itself into your chest. Your arm reaches round to her back, forcing her to not move away. The sword shifts upwards, running through her lungs.

 “I'm so fucking sorry.”

 You both fall to the ground, trapped in some parody of a hug. Her eyes are wide, so wide, you can see the circuitry running through them up into her head. Head... The tiaratop gets knocked to the ground and you watch the red bleed away to the blue you remember so well.

 “Di...Stri...?”

 “Jane.” The words are slurred, your strength fading. “I'm so... sorry...”

 The world becomes a giant blur of red and grey. You want to talk more, tell her about all the tiny, minuscule things she missed while she was gone. But you can't, you are so fucking tired that all you can do is clutch weakly at her hair and try to get the message through telepathically.

 “Dirk... Dirk it hurts...”

 “I...know,” You manage to choke out. “Sorry...”

 “Nothing... to be sorry for.” she sighs “See... you on the other side.... Di-Stri...”

 You don't believe in an afterlife and neither does she. But... You can believe now... If it means you'll see your friends again... And everyone will be ok.

 Yeah. That would be....

 Nice.... You suppose.

 You fall.

 Then everything fades to black.

 

* * *

 

Two children sit, wrapped in each others arms in a slump. One is tall and gangly, the other short and slim. An innocent picture.

 Zoom out.

 A sword pierces this ones chest, A trident stops this one from falling to the ground.

 Zoom out.

 Blood surrounds the entire area, a backdrop of red and grey.

 Zoom out.

 An empty city covered in corpses, all holding the distinctive three pronged attack of a Crocker.

 Zoom out.

 An empty world, covered in too much water and not enough people.

 Zoom out.

 Space. The final frontier.

 Zoom out.

 Zoom out.

 Zoom out.

 4 Children sit on the top of a building. Two blonde and two brunette. Green, Pink, Orange and Blue.

 They will be safe here. For at the very end of the road there are no monsters left to hurt them. Children they will be allowed to remain. For as long as it takes them to grow up.

 Again.


End file.
